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PlainSpell

forfeiture

/ˈfɔɹfɪt͡ʃɚ/noun

forfeiture is a noun meaning “A legal action whereby a person loses all interest in the forfeit property” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-O-R-F-E-I-T-U-R-E and has 3 syllables, and it appears 1.1 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of forfeiture is forfeitures.

What does forfeiture mean?

noun

  1. 1

    A legal action whereby a person loses all interest in the forfeit property.

  2. 2

    The loss of forfeit property.

  3. 3

    The property lost as a forfeit.

  4. 4

    Any loss occasioned by one's own actions.

    We conclude that the government has forfeited any claim of forfeiture, so we proceed to consider the merits.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce forfeiture?

  • UK /ˈfɔːfɪtʃə/
  • US /ˈfɔɹfɪt͡ʃɚ/

Forfeiture has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-forfeiture.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-forfeiture.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of forfeiture

  • forfeitures plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is forfeiture?

Forfeiture appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Forfeiture in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanKonfiszierung, Konfiskation, Einziehung (law: a legal action whereby a person loses all…), Verwirkung, Verlust (law: the loss of forfeit property), beschlagnahmtes Gut (law: the property lost as a forfeit)
Portugueseperda (any loss occasioned by one's own actions)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does forfeiture come from?

From Middle English forfeture, from Old French forfaiture.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).